2018 American Advertising Awards Winners

The Amarillo chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF-Amarillo) hosted the local tier of the 2018 American Advertising Awards on Feb. 24 at the Derrick Event Center in downtown Amarillo. Approximately 185 advertising professionals and students celebrated as they and their peers won coveted “ADDY” trophies. More than 40 awards were bestowed upon guests, including gold and silver ADDYs, special judges’ awards and best of show.

“Members of AAF-Amarillo dedicate a significant amount of time every year gathering entries, recruiting professional judges and hosting an awards reception that recognizes and rewards the creative spirit of excellence in the art of advertising,” AAF-Amarillo President Megan Reed said.

Winners included local advertising agencies, civic organizations, schools, a television station and more. Nobox Creative took home top honors with Best of Show in the professional competition for a social media campaign it designed for Leal’s Mexican Restaurant, while Amarillo College students won Best of Show in the student division for the Spring 2017 issue of their The Current magazine.

Beth Duke, executive director for Center City of Amarillo, received the Silver Medal – one of AAF’s highest honors for an individual. This special award recognizes men and women who have made outstanding contributions to advertising and have actively furthered the industry’s standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern.

The Art of Advertising was the theme of this year’s event. In addition to the awards ceremony, guests enjoyed food and drink, entertainment and raffle prizes. As a special treat, they were among the first to see the Cerulean Gallery’s newest exhibition, “Quintessential Amarillo.”

“AAF-Amarillo has had the privilege to host the first-tier of this national creative competition for a number of years,” Reed said. “And we continue to shed light on the local work of professional and student creatives in our area.”

Hosted by AAF-Amarillo, the event comprised the first portion of a three-tier, national competition. Concurrently, all across the country, local entrants vie to win awards moving them into the district tier, where local ADDY winners compete against winners from other chapters in one of 15 district competitions. District winners are then forwarded to the national stage of the competition.

Amarillo’s winners will be judged among other local entries of District 10, to which AAF Amarillo belongs, in Dallas during early March.